Words on Sounds

Nick Millevoi - Streets of Philadelphia

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 04:19:00 +0000

By Scott Scholz

In the decades before Tiny Mix Tapes (both the recently-retired website and actual tiny mix tapes), and even further back into the mists of time, just before phonographs and radios found their way into most households, the center of household entertainment often was a piano. When new tunes came out, folks dusted off those keys and played ‘em for themselves right out of the freshly-minted sheet music. Of course, outside of the classical world (or occasionally jazz), very little music is published first nowadays to paper, save for the Beck Song Reader book project in 2012.

Philly-based guitarist Nick Millevoi is having none of that business. He’s the sort of fellow who has already played on 20-ish records and led his own killer jazz-inflected instrumental rock bands like the Desertion Trio and Many Arms. When the inspiration hit to write a series of songs that didn’t lend themselves neatly to his working bands, he gathered them into their own songbook. As you might expect based on the book’s title, “Streets of Philadelphia” contains a set of 25 short instrumental pieces written to celebrate the urban pathways around the City of Brotherly Love. He assembled them into an edition of 100 handcrafted, risograph-printed books that was published last September, so that you too can let your fingers do some walking on these fabled streets.

As a sheet music-reading person who happens to travel by bicycle, I felt connected to these pieces as soon as I started working through the book. I found myself looking up the streets associated with these pieces on Google Maps, putting myself in Street View, and imagining myself biking on them myself as I considered the music. Many are gentler, lower-traffic residential streets I’d look for as a cyclist to avoid the vehicular congestion (like Albion), or short little jogs of a block or two that save some trouble where the urban grid falls a little out of symmetry (like Clay or Mower). The songs capture the sounds and rhythms of moving around a city by bike, with lots of odd rhythmic cells huddled together as though you’re having to adjust your speed, chromaticism that feels like sneaking between cars or down alleys, and dissonant intervals that remind me of traffic noise and car horns. Millevoi intended the street names in the songbook to be a more general celebration of Philly streets past and present, and included some streets that no longer exist, like Point No Point. However, it’s notable that he’s a bike traveler as well, and a cycling pace and consideration of one’s surroundings flows naturally in these pieces.

Because the songs are written for open instrumentation, you can play them on any instrument of your choice as solo pieces, or get a few friends together and whip up an arrangement or two. Are they “jazz” or “classical” or what? That all depends on how you decide to play them! They’re very flexible, like one needs to be maneuvering the Streets of Philadelphia. But just in case your music-playing abilities slow down when there’s a piece of sheet music in front of you, Millevoi has assembled a cast of first-rate Philly musicians who have realized a selection of ten tunes from the songbook, and the digital album drops on December 3rd at Nick’s Bandcamp:

Streets of Philadelphia by Nick Millevoi

Nick’s ensemble for Streets features himself on guitar, Veronica MJ on viola, Tom Kraines on cello, Dan Blacksberg on trombone, and Anthony Di Bartolo on marimba and percussion. Two pieces utilize the whole ensemble, while others feature solos, duets and trios broken out from the main quintet. The open-orchestration nature of these charts allows for lots of interpretive latitude, and the ensemble turned out a refreshingly diverse set of recordings, made in January of this year just before everything turned into lockdowns and social distancing. A few of my favorites from this set:

Gaskill: this is such a playful tune! You can feel a Beefheart influence on the songbook hiding in the shadows on this street. The trombone/marimba unisons are stellar, with perfectly matching phrasing. Di Bartolo deftly switches from marimba to percussion at the perfect moments to drive this tune forward. This is one of the full-ensemble takes, though the strings lay back to let the trombone and marimba drive the piece hardest. Everyone digs in hard on the last run through the form.

Markoe: A string trio arrangement of sorts, the theme is laid out mostly in octaves between viola and cello, with Millevoi adding ethereal accompaniment. The melody has a bit of an early 2nd Viennese School vibe on paper, and it takes on a cinematic quality in this recording.

Plover: This is one of the more playful tunes in the songbook, switching between a pointillistic melody and carnival music rhythms. Millevoi steps out for some warped lead work on this track, taking things pretty far out while the orchestral strings hold down an ostinato figure to keep things on the road. Then Blackberg takes a short turn. There’s an album’s worth of ideas in this song alone, and you can really hear how much fun everyone has with the piece.

Mower: This tune reminded me a little of if Horse Lords tried to write a Zappa tune when I first read through the sheet music, and this arrangement definitely carries that vibe to a fun place, with its stuttering major 7ths occasionally coalescing into bits of rock and roll dirtiness, but just as often soaring along with that kind of Vareseian all-tension, no-release vibe. This is probably my favorite recording in this set. While there’s not the space for improvisation that some of these arrangements have, it functions as a brilliantly balanced, powerful composition. Short street, incredible tune!

Silver: Tom Kraines closes out the album with a tender solo cello interpretation of “Silver.” While it’s a short take that adheres to the printed page, he brings out a gentle, undulating feel in the piece that I hadn’t picked up on looking through the sheet music initially.

And that’s the beauty of this project: you can simply enjoy these great recorded takes on selections from the sheet music, but if you’re a musician yourself, you can also use them as inspiration. The songbook is full of memorable ideas, but as I mentioned earlier, there’s a lot of flexibility built into these tunes. Why not take a ride on the Streets of Philadelphia yourself? A .pdf of the songbook is included with purchase of the digital album, and you also can still order a beautiful hard copy of the songbook. The book was designed and printed in Philly by Erik Ruin. It features some fun color renderings of the charts in blues and reds and greens--a nice personal touch that doesn’t affect readability. You can find it on the Nick Millevoi Bandcamp page, where it can then be delivered to a street wherever you are.

(And remember, Friday is "Bandcamp Day," where Bandcamp waives their fees so that artists can keep making it through the pandemic since performances are mostly halted around the world, so it's the perfect day to support the artist.)

Words on Sounds is back in (e-)print

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 03:51:00 +0000

Hey folks,

I’ve been feeling a powerful urge to start writing about music again, and Words on Sounds is coming back. To catch everyone up on things, in the three and a half years or so since I’ve been active over here, I did some writing for Tabs Out focused on new music being released on cassette (and I’ll be doing some more of that over there, too). If you want to catch up on some of those pieces, you can find them at this link, but I’d recommend just reading all of the excellent reviews happening at Tabs Out while you’re there. I wrote a few pieces that appeared in other places as well, and I put out a bunch of imaginative cassettes on Tymbal Tapes, and then I took some time off from writing...

...and became a music librarian, which is the most incredibly fulfilling way I could imagine spending my days. At the library, I’ve been doing a few written book recommendations for excellent music books that you can read here. And if you miss my recorded work on the Other Music radio show, or the Words on Sounds podcast, you might be interested in the weekly radio show that I do now for the Polley Music Library, which broadcasts on 89.3 FM KZUM in Lincoln, NE Saturday mornings from 8-8:30 and Sunday evenings from 9:30-10, and is also archived here.

With the return of Words on Sounds, I’m planning to take a broader writing approach. There will be some reviews of new music, to be sure, but I’m also hoping to explore music from a variety of eras, some music books, some philosophy around music and music-making and music listening, and generally just have some fun. I hope you’ll join me, dear readers. --Scott

Words on Sounds ep. 63 now available!

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 19:29:00 +0000

Episode 63 of Words on Sounds features music from:

Cloud Becomes Your Hand - Rest in Fleas (Northern Spy)
Paperbark - Forgotten Narratives (Black Box Tapes)
Rick Parker & Li Daiguo - Free World Music (Eleven2Eleven Records)
555 - Thee Omega Seed (MJ MJ Records)
Euglossine - Complex Playground (Beer On The Rug)
Urthsla - Wannsee (Field Hymns)
Dekatron III - split w/Courbes Bezier (Verlag System)
Arve Henriksen & Teun Verbrugen - Black Swan (Rat Records)
Hillboggle - Up the Country With Hillboggle (Crash Symbols)
Cob Raw - s/t (Gleauxing Records)
Sex Funeral - Solo Funeral (Personal Archives)
Bret Schneider - Melancholia I & II (Never Anything Records/Tereshkova)
Thirteen Hurts / 13Hz - UVB-76 (No part of it)

Tune in, turn on, drop out!

Podcast Episode 62 now available!

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 00:22:00 +0000

Episode 62 of the Words on Sounds podcast features music from:

bran(...)pos - The Bubblegum Forgeries Vol. 1
Charles Barabe + Roadside Picnic - National House Milk (Wounded Knife)
Somnoroase Pasarele - VOMA (Magical Garage Taste)
Hey Exit - Caudata
Dang Olsen Dream Tape - Zonk (Constellation Tatsu)
Brayden Jae/Kyle Landstra split (Geology Records)
Ropal Jagnu - Silo (OJC Recordings)
Thollem McDonas/Kaufman - Always Put On Your Sincere Face (Personal Archives)
Horse Lords - Interventions (Northern Spy)
Skin of Earth - s/t (Sump Pump Records)
German Army - Yanomami (Sacred Phrases)
Heimat - s/t (Kill Shaman Records)
Tlaotlon - ACACIA A/V (Weird Ear Records)
Larry Wish - Porous Obtainer of Loads (Truly Bald)

Podcast episode 61 now available!

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 01:11:00 +0000

You'll find a baker's dozen of rad music from around the world on the latest edition of the Words on Sounds podcast:

--ecstatic electronics from D.U.G.O.U.T.C.A.N.O.E.
--rich, darker textures from Roche oval and Thierry Gauthier via La cohu
--The intense drones of Five Guitars for Tony Conrad, via Auasca (and now available from Tape Drift as well)
--heavy duo guitar freakouts from Elliott Sharp and Scott Fields on New Atlas
--melancholy soundscapes from Andreas Brandal's latest on Sacred Phrases
--glitched industrial textures from Almagest on Tourette Records
--a kinetic brew of drum machines and weirdo electronic songsmithery from Jimmy Sanchez & his Crystal Balls on Haord Records
--killer trio improv from Le Veau on Cuchabata Records
--brutal sax/drum sound masses from Ulrich Krieger's latest on Xi
--great postrock textures from Bisamratta's side of a great split on spina rec
--post-everything murmurs from Venereal Crush
--RIO meets djent from France's Ni
--and incredible composition and improv colliding in The Bureau of Atomic Tourism via RAT

tune in, turn on, drop out!

Podcast Episode 60 now available!

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Sun, 29 May 2016 17:53:00 +0000

It's been far too long, dear listeners and readers, but here's a great new episode of the Words on Sounds podcast, featuring:

--rich tones from the recent Dura jam on Geology Records
--the fourth of six great Wishes by Softest on Inner Islands
--a tight soundscape from Chihei Hatakeyama via Constellation Tatsu
--chopped/screwed/layered surprises from DJ Too Slow's new tape on Personal Archives
--stark, haunting perfection from Sister Grotto's recent self-released jam
--freak folk/free jazz from the brilliant Spires That in the Sunset Rise on Hairy Spider Legs
--contrabass electroacoustic textures from Gregg Skloff's tape on Eiderdown Records
--varied psych/folk overdubs from Prana Crafter's latest on Deep Water Acres
--amazing vocal/electronics orchestrations from Lesley Flanigan's new disc onPhysical Editions
--a few minutes from Max Richter's 8-hour epic "Sleep"
--and a few relaxed moments with Ravi Shankar and friends courtesy ofNorthern Spy

Tune in, turn on, drop out!

Reviews from here and there

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 22:59:00 +0000

I haven't mentioned anything here about writing reviews for other joints, but I've been doing some writing in a few other places over the last year. I did a couple of short reviews for 2 of my favorite 2015 releases over at Record Collector News:

Blind Idiot God

Unconscious Collective

Never mind those rating stars, by the way--I'm not into rating systems, and if I were, those would both have to be 5-star affairs in my book.

In autumn, I started doing some pieces related to new cassettes for the venerable Tabs Out Podcast folks. I've loved reading their stuff for a long while, and it's an honor to chip in over there. You can read most of my contributions to their noble analog adventures at this link. But read everything you can over there--Tabs Out rules!

I'm especially excited for a new piece I turned over to the fine folks at Tiny Mix Tapes, which they just ran today. The Silly Symphony Collection, a collaborative release between Disney and Fairfax Classics, documents a massive collection of incredible music produced at the dawn of "talking pictures." Taken as a whole, this work is a sort of ur-text for film music and a lot of other collage/montage approaches across the spectrum of 20th century music. I think this music is beyond essential, and I hope you spend some time right here reading up on it and checking out the music.

I also wanted to write out a few of my thoughts and plans regarding the rest of 2016 while we're together here, dear readers. I find myself in the most comically busy period of my entire life, juggling 2 jobs and grad school at the same time, and I'm afraid my time is going to be at a premium through the end of the year. That said, I plan to continue working some reviews into the mix here at Words on Sounds, as well as keeping the reels spinning at Tabs Out. And the podcast will continue with as regular a schedule as I can swing, though I suspect it'll be more like twice a month than weekly for a while. Tymbal Tapes, which was a total delight and honor to work on through most of 2015, will continue as well, though the release schedule will be limited to 2 or 3 releases this year.

At times I struggle with the point of this blog: over 8 years of activity, it started life as a strictly review-oriented project, then became a way of documenting my thoughts/contributions to the Other Music radio show I was co-hosting for five years, and more recently documented the podcast series. To be honest, I prefer writing reviews to the radio/podcast activities, but there are advantages to the podcast: I can help draw attention to more artists than time allows for writing about coherently, and a lot of folks prefer listening over reading. Writing reviews takes a lot of time and contemplation for me. I don't take it lightly, and my focus is on exploration, discovery, context and conversation, as opposed to being just another news/hype joint. But I love it, and I'll do my best to keep it alive through this difficult year. Thanks for reading and listening!

Podcast episode 59 now available!

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 00:30:00 +0000

Finally, a new edition of the Words on Sounds podcast is up, featuring:

--Great drone/guitar loop/tape atmospheres from the mighty AMULETS onPirate Ship Records
--symphonic synthetics from Arca on Mute Records
--pure madcap genius from Jake Tobin on Truly Bald
--ever-evolving songwriting from German Army's new jam on Kikimora Tapes
--excellent quarter-tone solo git-fiddle from the new Scott Fields disc on New Atlantis Records
--slow jams for weirdos on the new Bean Snack tape from Personal Archives
--barren modular soundscapes from the new Head Dress jam on Dionysian Tapes
--gorgeous field recording-heavy arrangements from the new former selvestape on Auasca
--transcendent vibes from the latest Gardener jam on BARO Records
--driving synth work from Artificiero on Verlag System
--and classic Merzbow in duo configuration from the incredible box set onTourette Records

--and the winner of the German Army/Novy Svet 7'' from Tourette Records isAlexandre Chami Filho! Congrats, and send me your address!

Tune in, turn on, drop out!

Podcast episode 58 now available!

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Sun, 24 Jan 2016 23:30:00 +0000

The latest Words on Sounds episode is an around-the-world affair, featuring:

--collaged multiplicities from the new M.M.S. Kaiser, Bald Eagles, and Bbjrcollab tape on Personal Archives
--some live drone atmospheres from Wizard Ashdod on Full Body Massage Records
--haunting soundscapes from Joseph Curwen's new tape on Still Heat Recordings
--free jazz/rock/noise from Nazolivye Bliznecy's killer tape on spina rec
--complex layers of synth/EVI jamming from Shingles, via a new split with Sound Out Light on Oxtail Recordings
--excellent extended-technique clarinet work from John McCowen on his new | OBF 14 | cassette
--wild synth/drum workouts from the debut of Square/Sine on Cuchabata Records
--contemporary prog/RIO to die for from the latest CHROMB album
--an intense Lou Cohen Symphony-composition from his triple-disc on Pogus
--and a short-but-perfect ending to the show from the latest Little Fyodor & Babushka jam

Tune in, turn on, drop out!

Words on Sounds Ep. 58 by Words On Sounds on Mixcloud

Favorites of 2015

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Sun, 03 Jan 2016 16:18:00 +0000

2015 was another wonderful year for compelling creative music. Here are a few of my favorite recordings from the year, divided along several different lines of musical activity. This post will also serve as a companion to the "Favorites of 2015" podcast, which you can listen to right here:

Favorite of 2015: Words on Sounds ep. 57 by Words On Sounds on Mixcloud

Follow the links on these lists to track down this amazing music for yourself:

25 favorites of 2015

JOBS - Killer BOB Sings, New Amsterdam.
Craig Scott's Lobotomy - War is a Racket, self-released.
Blind Idiot God - Before Ever After, Indivisible Music.
Upsilon Acrux - Sun Square Dialect, New Atlantis.
Erica Eso - 2019, Ramp Local.
Wei Zhongle - Nu Trance, Hairy Spider Legs.
Noah Creshevsky - Hyperrealist Music, 2011-2015, EM Records.
SCHNELLERTOLLERMEIER - X, Cuneiform Records.
Holly Herndon - Platform, 4AD.
Stavros Gasparatos - Expanded Piano, Ad Noiseam.
Gong - I See You, Snapper Records/Mad Fish.
BBJr - I Did What I Could With What I Had, Captcha.
Joey Molinaro - I Who Will Forever Evil Yet Do Forever Good, self-released.
Macula Dog - s/t, Haord (repress Ramp Local).
Giant Claw - Deep Thoughts, Orange Milk.
ARIADNE - Tsalal, Auris Apothecary.
Twins of El Dorado - Verses, Prom Night Records.
Zs - Xe, Northern Spy.
Macho Blush - Firma
German Army - Taushiro, Weird Ear Records.
Matt Weston - Skate for the Lie, Tape Drift.
ARVO ZYLO - Sequencer Works Vol. 1, Out-of-body Records.
Voicehandler - Song cycle, Humbler.
Coppice - Cores/Eruct, Category of Manifestation.
Cinchel - Worry, self- released.

Reissue/Archival

The Silly Symphony Collection 1929-1939 box set, Disney.
Steve Hillage - Madison Square Garden 1977, Purple Pyramid.
Paul R. Marcano and Andre Martin - Valley Flutes / As it IS, Constellation Tatsu.
Craw - 1993–1997 box set, Northern Spy.
Frank Zappa - Feeding The Monkies At Ma Maison, Zappa Records (RSD).
Tools You Can Trust - Working and Shopping, Burka For Everybody.
Miles Davis - Fillmore West: 15-10-70, Hi Hat.
Richard Pinhas - Chronolyse, Cuneiform.
The Contortions - Buy, Futurismo.
Sun Ra - Planets of Life or Death: Amiens '73, Strut.

Composition/electroacoustic

G.S. Sultan - ad.sculpt tutorial, Orange Milk.
Patrick Higgins - Social Death Mixtape, NNA Tapes.
Noosphertilizer III: Strnglv/Pekltopia split tape, Aubjects.
Ali Helnwein - Voyage, Spring Break Tapes.
Jonah Parzen-Johnson - Remember When Things Were Better Tomorrow, Primary Records.
Cornered Yet Climbing Featuring Kelly Jayne Jones - Fevered Realities, Tombed Visions.
Booker Stardrum - Dance and, NNA Tapes.
PARTLI CLOUDI - Watermelon Cauliflower, Arachnidiscs.
Ulrich Krieger - Winters In The Abyss, Pogus.
Doc Wör Mirran featuring Conrad Schnitzler - Rojo, Tourette Records.

Improvisation-related

Jon Mueller - A Magnetic Center, Rhythmplex.
Augenmusik - s/t, Eiderdown.
Wrest - Ingress, self-released.
Andrew Bernstein - Cult Appeal, Hausu Mountain.
The Gate - Chuck, Astral Spirits.
I/OWAR - (silver tape), self-released.
Stephen Haynes - Pomegranate, New Atlantis.
Alan Sondheim / Azure Carter / Luke Damrosch - Threnody, Public Eyesore.
Earth Tongues - Rune, Neither Nor Records.
Tatsuya Nakatani - Confirmation, Taiga Records.

Bands

Tredici Bacci - Vai! Vai! Vai!, Astral Spirits.
Chef Menteur - III, Sunrise Ocean Bender.
Guapo - Obscure Knowledge, Cuneiform.
Many Arms & Toshimaru Nakamura - s/t, Public Eyesore.
Tandaapushi - Fire Disposal, jvtlandt.
Shit and Shine - 54 Synth-brass, 38 Metal guitar, 65 Cathedral, Rocket Recordings.
le Flange du Mal - CARRION, MY WAYWARD SON, Resipiscent.
Evening Fires - Where I've Been Is Places and What I've Seen Is Things, Sunrise Ocean Bender.
Stern - Bone Turquoise, New Atlantis.
German Army - Kalash Tirich Mir, Yerevan Tapes.

Synth Zones

Cremator - Phase Électronique, Extreme Ultimate.
Polígono Hindú Astral - 00110010, Verlag System.
Xua - Mekong Moon, Debacle Records.
Bastian Void - No Dreams, Sic Sic Tapes.
Jan Balsam & Hermon Cone - Pattern Dialect, Moss Archive.
Three Fourths Tigers - Indoor Voice, Field Hymns.
Grapefruit - Some New-Age Bullshit, Field Hymns.
Panabrite - Disintegrating Landscape, Immune.
Majeure - Union of Worlds, Constellation Tatsu.
TALsounds - All The Way, Hausu Mountain.

Missed from last year:
Unconscious Collective - Pleistocene Moon, Tofu Carnage.

I heard about this insanely gorgeous recording near the middle of this year, when Tofu Carnage wisely chose to repress this near-perfect album that originally dropped mid-2014. From the composed, cinematic-feeling opener to the Z'EV-like percussion forays that close the album, and the many intense riffs and cutting improvisations in between, Unconscious Collective deserve a much wider audience. This pressing is quite remarkable in the packaging department, too, with wild swirled vinyl, spot-printing, foil stamping, and collodion prints of the band on linen. It looks incredible, and sounds better than it looks. Snag a 2nd pressing copy while you still can.

Favorite album art:
The Snowfields - How To Get Good Sound from a Dead Ear, Field Hymns.

I like a good album cover, but I've never been compelled to actually write about one until the new Snowfields tape arrived at my doorstep. I've always been smitten with the imaginative designs of Tiny Little Hammers (and in the interest of disclosure, they've made my life a zillion times better this year by doing the design work for Tymbal Tapes), but DAMN. The colors, balance, movement, geometry: everything about this art makes my heart sing. And this music is no slouch, either--click that link above and check it out.

Favorite label: New Atlantis Records.
In struggling to put together these crazy lists, It would've made life a lot easier to simply include every single release from New Atlantis this year. In another incredible batch of recordings (2014 was also spectacular), the NA folks brought 14 essential recordings to our ears, documenting the best in hard-hitting avant-rock, heavy improvised music, and many exciting collisions in between. If the only music you had the opportunity to hear from the last year was exclusively from New Atlantis, your musical mind would remain a finely-tuned machine. Head over to their Bandcamp page and get delightfully lost in an excellent and diverse discography.

Artist of the year: More Eaze

Marcus M. Rubio's new set of works under the More Eaze moniker has absolutely demanded my attention throughout 2015. As diverse a set of music as you're ever likely to hear, these records reinvent songform from all directions: weighty electroacoustic textures give way to electronic pop, folk and Americana collide with vaporwave, and abstract/academic forms dissolve into gorgeous tonal narratives. Lord only knows where "the future of music" is headed, but I sure hope it takes some direction from More Eaze. Do yourself a solid and check these out:

More Eaze - (frail), Already Dead.

More Eaze - accidental prizes, Kendra Steiner Editions.

More Eaze - stylistic deautomatization, Kendra Steiner Editions.

More Eaze - a lodge, Translucence Records.

More Eaze - fine., Full Spectrum Records.

More Eaze - Abandoning finitude, Kendra Steiner Editions.

Thanks for listening and reading, and here's to a great 2016!

Podcast Episode 56 now available!

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 04:24:00 +0000

A great set of tunes for episode 56 of the Words on Sounds podcast, featuring:

--synth zoners for days from Kyle Landstra's side of a killer new split onLillerne Tapes
--percussion-fueled adventures from Booker Stardrum's solo debut on NNA Tapes
--lowercase improv from Ex You on Small Scale Music
--Immersive atmospheres from Grand Banks on Oxtail Recordings
--a piece from the third installment of the La Forêt rouge trilogy, via La cohu
--some americana-infused brilliance from More Eaze on Full Spectrum Records
--gorgeous layers of flute from Paul R. Marcano's side of a near-perfect split on Constellation Tatsu
--Americana released to the brainiac-wolves known to we mortals as Walls Of Genius
--EVI/synth duets from the Bambi Kino duo's excellent tape on International Anthem
--one of 16 amazing "tapestry" pieces from the sprawling, incredible Stag Harequadruple tape on Inner Islands
--and a great synclavier composition from the late Frank Zappa, who would have turned 75 today.

Tune in, turn on, drop out!

Words on Sounds Ep. 56 by Words On Sounds on Mixcloud

Podcast episode 55 now available!

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Sun, 29 Nov 2015 18:05:00 +0000

This week's episode of Words on Sounds features:

--intense synth-heavy live work from Troum's 7'' on Tourette Records
--harsh percussion manipulation on UOOOU's tape on Full Body Massage Records
--A classic instrumental cut from The Goner's disc on Deep Water Acres
--epic postrock atmospheres from INSECT FACTORY's new tape on Already Dead Tapes & Records
--an excerpt of an '81 home recording by Debbie Jaffe and Hal McGee on the new Invisible Shadows double-disc audio documentary
--a potent film cue earworm from Fuchs & Beckett's Lucky O.S.T. tape on Mirror World Music
--deep listening from the new Loren Chasse tape on Notice Recordings
--a killer chamber work from Qasim Naqvi's new tape/CD on NNA Tapes
--a weird, bouncy ditty from Larry Wish on Orange Milk Records
--heavily edited mysterious vibes from Amalgamated on Bicephalic Records
--new German Army-related work from the s/t debut of Germ Class on Night-People Records/ Wet Hair
--and a great slab of minimalist industrial/punk from aarum on OJC Recordings

Tune in, turn on, drop out!

Words on Sounds Ep 55 by Words On Sounds on Mixcloud

Podcast episode 54 now available!

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Sun, 22 Nov 2015 20:22:00 +0000

This week's edition of Words on Sounds features excellent new music including:

--nearly psychic voice/trumpet interplay from Twins of El Dorado on Prom Night Records
--an adventurous synth journey from E GONE's latest tape on Zeon Light Kassett
--dark prog/psych from Chile's incredible Un Festín Sagital, via Black Horizons
--Irish psych freakouts from Woven Skulll's latest jam on Eiderdown Records
--spacious guitar/resonance treatments from Black Spirituals on RATSKIN Records.
--electronics/percussion zones from Brian Osborne's split with Dan Peck onHeat Retention Records
--a new German Army jam from their Opal Tapes cassette
--symphonic textures from the new Head Dress tape on Cønjuntø Vacíø
--fantastic drum/guitar structures from the latest Ahleuchatistas album onInternational Anthem
--moody old-school industrial/psych from the Twilight Circus Dub Sound System/Edward Ka-Spel collab on Tourette Records
--and burning improv from Survival Unit III via Astral Spirits

Tune in, turn on, drop out!

Words on Sounds Ep. 54 by Words On Sounds on Mixcloud

Podcast episode 53 now available!

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Sun, 08 Nov 2015 19:10:00 +0000

You're in for set of serious textures and atmospheres on this week's episode of the Words on Sounds podcast, featuring:

--an intense introduction to a Dead Voices on Air series on Tourette Records
--tense vibes from the new Grand Mal x tape on Black Horizons
--gritty looped textures from Rigel Magellan on OJC Recordings
--overdubbed violin-fueled grind from Joey Molinaro, now on cassette viaAuris Apothecary
--ominous atmospheres from the new NIKTA tape on Already Dead Tapes & Records
--transcendant, metallic waves from Ant'lrd via Inner Islands
--primal, tribal pop from Diva 93 on the awesome Party Music 4-way split onHairy Spider Legs
--bold synth-ing where no synths have gone before by Three Fourths Tigerson Field Hymns
--more great synths from Spain's Sentionaut on the young Cintas Chromo label
--serious industrial textures from CARTHAGE on a great new label, Still Heat Recordings
--live duo improv from Rafael Toral's Space Collective on Notice Recordings
--and modular mayhem from Mysterious House on Moss Archive

Tune in, turn on, drop out!

Words on Sounds Ep. 53 by Words On Sounds on Mixcloud

Podcast Episode 52 now available!

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 12:13:00 +0000

This week's edition of the Words on Sounds Podcast features lots of great new music, including:

--my favorite piece from the great new Giant Claw tape on Orange Milk Records
--heavy electronic textures from the new Big Debbie jam on RATSKIN Records..
--a melancholy tune from John Dillon's tape on the new label Never Anything Records/Tereshkova
--Intense sequencer jams from Volume 2 of Arvo Zylo's sequencer works on No Part Of It
--deep synth zoners from Majeure's beautiful new tape on Constellation Tatsu
--fragmented psych-songwriting from Guide To Bizarre Behavior's latest tape on ShanGORIL La Records
--guitar drones from Bbjr's tape on Warm Gospel
--instrumental transcendence from Evening Fires via Deep Water Acres
--innovative guitar arrangements of Bach via the new Patrick Higgins album on Telegraph Harp
--classic modular mayhem from Richard Pinhas just reissued on Cuneiform Records
--and drum/synth duo adventures from Wume's latest album on Ehse Records

Tune in, turn on, drop out!

Words on Sounds Ep. 52 by Words On Sounds on Mixcloud

A Labyrinth and a Maze: Ariadne and Zeek Sheck

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 02:03:00 +0000

For me, the best music continues to reveal itself over time. Repeated listening sessions tease out hidden meaning, subtle nuances within dense orchestration, a new perspective that connects with a different mood: like any relationship, it’s a process. Two of my most recent favorite albums embody their own paths toward this foundational kind of musical understanding quite overtly in the symbolism of their formal structures. Here are a few of my thoughts about this incredible music, as well as two invaluable approaches to deep listening made easy as pie when the right sounds are made by the right hands.

Ariadne - Tsalal

Ariadne is an immersive “sacred music” project based in Brooklyn, and “Tsalal” is their first full-length. Working with as much attention to detail in digitally rendered video as music, this duo almost needs a new kind of discipline to describe the totality of their work: “sacred multimedia,” perhaps? The band is named after the Greek mistress of labyrinths, and the video for opening track “I Thirst” emerges quite literally with a labyrinth image, slowly descending into an intense multidimensional underworld.

Musically, the assertive melodies of “Tsalal” draw from early music influences, and perhaps a bit from more contemporary industrial/world artists in terms of production and atmosphere (Dead Can Dance and Current 93 come to mind). But flawless production values and rich reverbs aside, this is no pop project: the music is hewn from a wide range of digital electronics, with a devotion to glitches, open space, and jarring percussion textures. “Tsalal” is Hebrew for the notion of “becoming dark,” and the lyrics for these pieces embody the concept with painful clarity, narrating a slow descent from a position of weakness, through death itself, and into a kind of ain that an optimist like me turns into the beginning of another “fool’s journey.” Or perhaps the switch simply remains off—I’ll leave that one up to you, dear listener.

Traveling a long, winding course within a circumscribed space, labyrinths can be a catalyst for focused and ongoing meditation, and this music demands that level of attention. This is a music of extremes, sometimes veering from feeling claustrophobically trapped to larger than the heavens within the space of a minute. The flawless production and skilled vocal work of Christine Lanx contrast acutely with regular encroachments of glitches, cutting through the atmosphere like a peek behind a ceremonial matrix. And as sacred as this music often feels, the emphasis on ominous sounds and stark grayscale imagery in the videos evokes a sort of creepypasta vibe as well. Taken as a whole, “Tsalal” is a potent, mythical journey—not exactly the kind that brightens up your day or pumps you up in some “hero’s journey” fashion, but instead our collective facades and personal prisons are brought into necessarily dim focus.

My favorite piece here, both musically and visually, is “Forsaken.” Both the video and the music investigate a unique approach to light within mostly-darkened space: as a particularly enduring melody slowly unfolds, the companion video focuses on a stray beam of light as it slips into a mostly-enclosed aquatic space. As the visual perspective gradually shifts viewpoints around this scrap of light, the music seems to turn with it. It’s a powerful multisensory experience.

Tsalal by ARIADNE

But if you want to share the video vibes of “Forsaken,” you’re going to need to track down the physical edition of “Tsalal,” which was issued on a microSD card by Auris Apothecary. It’s an unconventional media format choice, no doubt—the tiniest conceivable object tasked with containing such a tremendous formal work—but it’s also an effective way to distribute Ariadne’s work with the full-resolution audio and video it demands. You can find several videos for “Tsalal” pieces at Ariadne’s Youtube page, but to experience all of them, as well as a nicely-produced digital booklet, you’re going to want to pick up the physical edition right here.

Zeek Sheck - JOINUS

Where Ariadne’s work is circumscribed within The Labyrinth, detailing a grand descent, Zeek Sheck’s fifth and final opus, “JOINUS,” works in almost the opposite direction: already deep underground in The Maze, whose escape route has been lost to time, ascent is the goal of our heroic Cloud People.

JOINUS is the story of escape from a maze “built to be super complex,” but the story proves to be an exasperatingly complex maze itself, the culmination of a circuitous mythology leading all the way back to the beginning of the ZS project in the 90s (and even the subliminal-ish healing tapes predating the music). The music is every bit as fascinating as the narrative: veering from off-off-broadway feral chant-alongs to plodding early Ralph Records weirdness, combining an idiosyncratic approach to the folk tradition with industrial textures and acid-psych atmospheres, the songs behind the Blue Door and the Red Door will scramble your inner reception. And that’s just the first LP. On the 2nd record, the Yellow Door and the Green Door open into side-length worlds of modular arpeggios, electroacoustic soundscapes, and aberrant contemporary classical chamber ensembles, getting closer to the surface as each improbable minute passes.

I think I said something like this the last time I highlighted a Resipiscent release, but seriously: when I first got into 20th C. “classical” composition stuff, this music is exactly what I hoped to hear someday. Uncompromising. Unpredictable. Adventurous. Truly free. There are so few albums that can totally nail weird songwriting and ambitious “art music” approaches, and JOINUS makes it sound effortless. And it gets even more engaging with each repeated listen. The more we all tune in, focusing our energy on music that can embody parts challenge, chaos, and redemption, we might collectively have a fighting chance at getting out of our own godforsaken maze and joining up with the Cloud People again.

I suspect that a lot of weirdo music folks are already familiar with the earlier Zeek Sheck albums, especially the first two that came out on Skin Graft in the early 90s. I’m bummed to admit that I totally missed out the first time around, so the whole wild world of ZS has become almost an obsession of mine over the last year. While you certainly don’t need to hear the earlier albums to dig on JOINUS, I’m sure glad I went back to check them out. And this is the perfect, epic place to start if you’ve never met the Beepers or Shecks or Cloud People before.

Seriously, one of the best albums of the last decade, and one that will never live far from my turntable. The beautiful inner gatefold features amazing door/maze/surface artwork, and if you want to dig into the specifics of the broader Zeek Sheck story, you’ll find the finale of JOINUS detailed in full at http://www.zeeksheck.com. But head to Resipiscent Records right now, and get some Zeek Sheck in your life.

Podcast episode 51 now available!

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 00:40:00 +0000

A great week captured on Words on Sounds podcast # 51, featuring:

--new-no-wtf-wave wildness from the lost final le Flange du Mal album, finally seeing the light of day via resipiscent
--a killer tune from the latest Guerilla Toss tape on DFA RECORDS
--environmental oscillations from STRNGLV's side of a gorgeous split on Aubjects
--rapid-fire code-borne oscillations from G.S. Sultan's new tape on Orange Milk Records
--mysterious rumbles from a phenomenal charity compilation by and for Life Changing Ministry, a crucial performance space in Oakland
--one of the coolest things I've heard all year from Matt Weston's new tape onTape Drift Records
--another great cut from the amazing Voicehandler disc on Humbler
--an excerpt from a new guitar/coding collab between Christopher Riggs andCarl Testa
--another great duo, featuring Colin Fisher and Ricardo Lagomasino, onTombed Visions Records
--and an excerpt of the intense new studio album from The Necks on Northern Spy

Tune in, turn on, drop out!

Words on Sounds Ep 51 by Words On Sounds on Mixcloud

Podcast episode 50 now available!

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 10:46:00 +0000

The 50th edition of the Words on Sounds podcast is a heavy one, featuring:

--the latest excellent self-release tape from Macho Blush
--meditative soundscapes from Selaroda's latest tape on Inner Islands
--a classic German Army cut from their new split 7'' with Novy Svet onTourette Records
--intense trio trancework from Tandaapushi on their new disc on JVTlandt
--circuit-bent ivory-tickling from the new Dorosoto jam on Moss Archive
--incredible psych-zoners from Zeta One's new tape on Eiderdown Records
--more impossible-to-categorize beauty from More Eaze/Marcus M. Rubioon Kendra Steiner Editions
--some deep synth work from Andrew Bernstein's amazing new tape onHausu Mountain
--deep listening from the new Small Things on Sundays tape onMetaphysical Circuits
--and a segment from a long-form minimalist behemoth by Wozzeck onspina rec

Words on Sounds Ep. 50 by Words On Sounds on Mixcloud

Podcast episode 49 now available!

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Sun, 04 Oct 2015 19:28:00 +0000

A creative and intense podcast on this week's Words on Sounds, which includes:

--beautiful quarter-tone contemporary pop approaches from Erica Eso's upcoming album on Ramp Local
--peaceful piano cycles from Rhucle on Oxtail Recordings
--the latest from Peter Kris on Geology Records
--intense new psych-power-trio work by Dead Sea Apes via Sunrise Ocean Bender
--deep percussion zones from Jon Mueller's latest tape on Rhythmplex
--The hard-hitting return of X__X on Smog Veil Records
--A great extended-technique solo cello workout from Jen Hill's new disc onKendra Steiner Editions
--heavy string improv from In The Sea's new tape on Astral Spirits
--cosmic synths from BABEL's latest tape on Metaphysical Circuits
--and heavy zoners that can't be denied from the new Venereal Crush double-disc.

Tune in, turn on, drop out!

Words on Sounds Ep 49 by Words On Sounds on Mixcloud

Riding the blood moon eclipse with Dan Peck: Premature Burial and The Gate

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 03:48:00 +0000

Premature Burial (photo by Peter Gannushkin)

As I finish typing up this little piece, the heavens are falling into creepy alignment: autumn has just lumbered into place; a total lunar eclipse is happening right now, and it's a blood moon, and it's a supermoon, and the eclipse is the culmination of a tetrad. Holy astronomical Moses! Some folks speculate that the end times begin in mere hours, and if they're right, perhaps we're about to part ways amidst trumpets, angels, and (hopefully) gory bouts of rapture, dear readers.

But if we should be so lucky to live, love and listen another day, may I suggest putting a couple of new Dan Peck-related recordings between your ears? In another feat of astronomical synchronicity, two of this brilliant composer/improvisor/tuba gymnast's most ominous projects are dropping new albums within a rough week of each other. If you're ready to welcome fall with great writing, sensitive improvisation and an embrace of aural heebie-jeebies, you can't do better than The Gate's new album "Chuck" on Astral Spirits and the debut of Premature Burial on New Atlantis Records.

The Gate - Chuck

The Gate started out under the more conventional jazz-act name of the Dan Peck Trio, releasing "Acid Soil" all the way back in 2009. Assuming their current moniker with a pair of brutal albums in 2012, Peck leads this powerful trio (featuring Tom Blancarte on upright bass and Brian Osborne on percussion) into lower, slower, and darker corners than most tuba players or jazz cats have ever gone. Doom and drone metal are the main points of reference for this music, and the concept works wonderfully with the double-low-end attack of Blancarte and Peck. Subsonic riffing punctuates wild rides full of extended-technique playing, and the trio can produce sounds both more caustic and congealed than one might expect to be possible with this orchestration.

The A-side of the new "Chuck" cassette on Astral Spirits finds The Gate in harsh free improv mode, somewhat an extension of their "Vomit Dreams" disc from 2012. Putting the whole doom/drone vibe aside, I think many folks into killer improv will dig this side with or without the metal-band-emulation conceit on their minds. This is simply great playing: dynamic, diverse, full frequency, and high energy. These jams fit perfectly into the Astral Spirits oeuvre, and in case you're not already on board, you should be stalking this label with a passion if you're into improvised music. Astral Spirits is the contemporary cassette label equivalent of BYG/Actuel in my book, their every curatorial choice a revelation.

On the B-side, the core trio is joined by Nate Wooley on trumpet and Tim Dahl on electric bass (as they were on their most recent LP "Stench"), and the quintet turns in a haunting performance of a through-composed piece called "The Huldrefish." Named after an eerie 19th century nautical tale that reads like a surprising antecedent to Lovecraft's Cthulu Mythos, this composition perfectly conjures a nightmare-ride into lands of unknown and unimaginable monsters. Following a calm but foreboding introductory section, full of great cymbal work and low oceanic murmurs, The Gate eventually brings you eye to missing-eye with strange, aggressive, and impossible audio attacks, finally coming back to shore with distant brass and basses moving back into the shadows. This is easily the best piece recorded so far by The Gate, a project that continues to evolve and brutalize more effectively with every album. Pick up a copy of "Chuck" from Astral Spirits here while supplies last.

Premature Burial - The Conjuring

Another haunted trio with Dan Peck on tuba, Premature Burial is a new group featuring Matt Nelson on sax and Peter Evans on piccolo trumpet. Where The Gate works to evoke massive external narratives of terror, Premature Burial explores the macabre on a more human scale and in much closer proximity. Without percussion to anchor these pieces, "The Conjuring" instead deploys massive batteries of effects. Like Matt Nelson's excellent sax+effects solo album "Lower Bottoms" from last year, there are many moments where the acoustic sources behind these sounds become very hard to determine: drones become electronic and progress without the need for breathing, sounds distort and mutate through filters, flutter-tongued passages become industrial spectres, and harmonizers turn atonal phrases into intimidating sub-ensembles.

True to the Edgar Allen Poe tale that inspired their name, Premature Burial builds their pieces around claustrophobic, frenzied peaks, their recording cleverly spread across the stereo field to give listeners the perception of being attacked from multiple directions at once. However, in their more subdued moments, the acoustic properties of the church where these recordings were made almost become a fourth member of the ensemble, persistent reverb keeping even the most delicate passages from feeling like they occupy an identifiable location in the mix. Always shifting though never far away, my favorite moments on "The Conjuring" feel like they're an invocation of the voice of this space itself, a lonely place that's seen better days, a voice grown old and unaccustomed to listeners.

Like "Chuck," if you're not into digging the "scary music" caprice behind this album, you'll still find a lot to love in "The Conjuring." Besides the intense extended technique playing and creative effects, all three members of Premature Burial have moments in these pieces where they lay down some seriously virtuosic lines. Though I haven't heard them yet, the download that accompanies each LP purchase of this record includes some additional solo cuts by each member that are likely to include some more moments of instrumental badassery. But if you want to check those out, you'll need to head over to the New Atlantis Records Bandcamp page while you still can: "The Conjuring" drops on October 2nd, and those Ende Tymes may be just around the corner...

Podcast episode 48 now available!

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Sun, 27 Sep 2015 16:53:00 +0000

This week's Words on Sounds is a serious treat. I'm having a hard time typing this up, as I'd rather go back and listen to it again myself. Episode 48 features:

--mythically potent-yet-ultra-contemporary sacred architecture fromARIADNE's debut full-length on Auris Apothecary
--doom/drone-meets sharp improv on the latest from The Gate on Astral Spirits
--trance-inducing bellows-driven textures from the new Coppice album on Category of Manifestation
--enthralling entheogenic electronics from Common Future
--shimmering guitar soundscapes from Bbjr's new Boyle/Bucko collab on Personal Archives
--incredible bedroom chamber-avant-pop from Ali Helnwein on Spring Break Tapes
--drone/texture mastery from Mike Nigro's latest tape on A Giant Fern--longer-than-usual early industrial narratives from German Army's short tape/shirt treasure on Castle Bravo Tapes
--rich improvisation from Say Spirit's tape on Small Scale Music
--and wild guitar duo improv from Elliott Sharp and Scott Fields on New Atlantis Records

Tune in, turn on, drop out!

Words on Sounds Ep. 48 by Words On Sounds on Mixcloud

Words on Sounds 47 now available!

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Sun, 20 Sep 2015 16:09:00 +0000

Episode 47 of Words on Sounds features tons of great new music played from our humble laser-loving compact disc friends:

--drum/guitar journeys from Sex Funeral's latest disc on Bbjr's Personal Archives
--deep listening from More Eaze/Marcus M. Rubio on Kendra Steiner Editions
--fried-treble ritual-club freakouts from The Big Drum In The Sky Religions latest on The Centipede Farm
--positively impeccable microediting composition from Noah Creshevsky's latest disc on EM Records Osaka Japan
--complex compositional forms for piano trio from Jeff Kowalkowski's new disc for New Atlantis Records
--ever-shifting textures from the upcoming White Out/Nels Cline album onNorthern Spy
--low-register tuba/bass doom from The Gate on Carrier Records
--nice piano/synth explorations from BABEL's new disc on Assembly Field
--an excerpt of John Krausbauer's intense new drone piece on Debacle Records
--and gorgeous fretless acoustic work from Jack Mazzenga's new solo "avant-Americana" disc

Tune in, turn on, drop out!

Words On Sounds Ep. 47 by Words On Sounds on Mixcloud

Podcast episode 46 now available!

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Sun, 13 Sep 2015 23:12:00 +0000

This week's edition of the Words on Sounds Podcast has a bunch of great new music you need to hear, including:

--pensive song structures from the newest Andreas Brandal tape on Field Hymns
--early industrial textures from German Armys new tape on Golden Cloud Tapes
--frequently funky jams from the new La Forêt rouge tape on Small Scale Music (2nd in their 2015 trilogy)
--insane rhythms from Darren Keen's new LP on Orange Milk Records
--incredibly fluid improv from the Chris Pitsiokos Trio's new disc on New Atlantis Records
--hyperkinetic baroque-core from the Igorrr and Ruby My Dear collab EP onAd Noiseam
--noise walls of the great plains on the new MUSICIAN tape on The Centipede Farm
--retrofuture synth delights galore on MKM's fantastic record on Verlag System
--brilliant early punk/industrial/no-wave collisions almost lost to time from Tools You Can Trust, lovingly brought back to life by BFE records
--and one of my favorite pieces of the year on a recent tape by cinchel

Tune in, turn on, drop out!

Words on Sounds Ep. 46 by Words On Sounds on Mixcloud

Rhucle - Summer Candle

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Sun, 13 Sep 2015 13:26:00 +0000

It's been a wild ride here at Words on Sounds HQ for quite some time, and it keeps getting busier. Most days, I get a sense of exhilaration trying to keep up with various responsibilities, but every so often, an overwhelming week sneaks into the picture. You know the routine: time is tight, money is tight, and things start breaking and failing, demanding immediate attention, and your frustration levels climb into the red, and...

Enter the new Rhucle tape on Oxtail Recordings. In the midst of a particularly crazy week, "Summer Candle" arrived in my mailbox, and within a few minutes, gentle synths with a hearty proportion of wind/water field recording sounds had me feeling more relaxed than I had in a long time. Most of the album continues along this path, alternating between synth pads with coastal field recordings and short, very sentimental piano pieces. They create a tranquil rhythm in juxtaposition, nudging your ears back and forth from interior and exterior aural spaces, each with a unique sense of intimacy and unforced immediacy. There are a few other field recordings of unknown origin mixed in as well, like the animal sounds in "Yonder Heaven" that seem to blend zoo and farm sources whose four-legged bleats sometimes sound like they're singing along with their synth pad counterparts.

As centered and refreshed as this tape makes me feel, "Summer Candle" isn't just a new-age mood enhancer. Special attention must be directed to "Glisten," one of the piano-based pieces, for particularly thoughtful composition and arranging. Over its nine minutes, "Glisten" takes a small set of motivic ideas through continuous permutations, uniting mellow/ambient vibes with a more rigorous kind of minimalism--think of those moments where the music of Reich or Glass seems to be suspended in time--and doing it all so smoothly that the compositional technique is transparent.

Check out Summer Candle for yourself here. Or if you need to take two of these and call me in the morning, you can find more at the Rhucle Bandcamp page.

Summer Candle by Rhucle

Podcast episode 45 now available (1st anniversary of the podcast dance party)!

noreply@blogger.com (WordsOnSounds) — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 19:00:00 +0000

It's the 1st anniversary of the Words on Sounds podcast, so let's celebrate with a weird dance party! Featuring Zeek Sheck, Drut Pd, Michael RJ Saalman, Q///Q, Grapefruit, Kara-Lis Coverdale, les trucs, Dirty Projectors, Omoide Hatoba, James Chance and the Contortions, Cloud Becomes Your Hand, Zs, Devo, The Residents, YACHT, Giant Claw, OOIOO, Dominique Leone, Death Blues, Heldon, Miles Davis, Public Record, Lakookala, Plack Blague, and more!

Words on Sounds Ep. 45: 1st anniversary dance party! by Words On Sounds on Mixcloud